How DeCloudUs compares to NextDNS, Control D and AdGuard DNS

DeCloudUs is the cheapest of the four by a wide margin, and the gap is not marginal enough to argue about. Our Premium Plus, which gives you all of our advanced features, is about 50% cheaper the least expensive comparable plan elsewhere does. Our prices are not affordable because of lack of features; rather, our prices are lower to extend the benefits of privacy and control to as many users as possible.

Compared against the others’ published annual pricing on in September 2026. Everyone changes these, so check the current figures before you decide with each service.

Several providers now offer a chat box that they call "AI assistant". Most of them are documentation search with a conversational front end: ask one to block an app on a child’s tablet and it tells you which menu to open. But not DeCloudUs DNS.. we have Dex, a true AI assistant.

Dex helps you manage your DNS profiles by simply asking it in plain English and makes the changes for you. That is a different category of product from a chatbot pointed at a manual, and it is the question worth asking of any assistant: can it do it, or only describe it?

Plenty of services publish an API. The thing to check is whether it reaches everything the dashboard does, because the gaps are rarely advertised.

Every operation in the DeCloudUs dashboard has an API route behind it: profiles, rules and schedules in full, category, service and safe-search toggles, DNS tests, account and token management — and query logs, including retrieval, analytics, retention settings and deletion. The same surface is exposed over MCP with OAuth scopes you grant and revoke per connection.

Ask a provider you are considering if they are API-native, meaning every single functionality availabile in the dashboard is also available via API.It is a short question and the answer is informative either way.

What are the subscription limits?

Every service provider has some limits whether on number of DNS profiles, devices, query limits, or custom rules. DeCloudUs subscription comes with unlimited devices and unlimited queries, but we do have limits on number of DNS profiles and custom rules. You can always add more DNS profiles with Premium Plus and if you ever need more than 1,000 custom rules, please reach out to us.

Do DNS profile rules change by time of day?

Schedules move a profile between policies by time of day and day of week, applied at the resolver so every device on it follows at once. This is different than scheduling the blocking of one service or category like others offer. DeCloudUs DNS allows you to apply completely different DNS profile block and allow rules on schedule.

How expressive are custom rules?

Four rule types — block, allow, rewrite and block-by-IP — with wildcard matching for all of them. With these advanced rule types, there is not a thing you cannot do with DeCloudUs DNS

Can something other than the dashboard drive it?

DeCloudUs exposes every dashboard operation over both a REST API and MCP, with OAuth scopes granted and revoked per connection. Ask whether a rival API covers everything its dashboard does and whether an AI assistant can easily manage your DNS profiles.

What is logged, and who decides the retention?

Logging is off until you switch it on, you choose how long entries are kept, and you can delete the log outright. This is the question to press hardest on with anyone, because the answer is rarely on the pricing page.

Where do the resolvers run, and can you choose?

The United States, Europe and Asia, with Premium Plus letting you pin the region rather than accepting whatever anycast decides. Latency and data jurisdiction both follow that choice.

If you want a resolver that is fast with no extra control or customization, Cloudflare and Quad9 do that for nothing and there is no reason to pay anyone, us included.

If you would rather run DNS resolver yourself locally, Pi-hole and AdGuard Home are free and the query log never leaves your house. You give up coverage once a device leaves the network, and the maintenance becomes yours.

A household where devices need different rules, someone who wants a television or a phone to stop reporting home, or anyone who wants blocking that follows a device off the network rather than stopping at the front door — at a price that makes the decision easy.

The parental controls page covers the household case, and setup covers connecting whatever you own. The trial needs an email address and no card, so the cheapest way to settle any of this is to try it.